The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.01.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.01.26

Live from Winnipeg, MB

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

And before we can do the contract signing for Dynasty, Tony is interrupted by pyro and OH GOD HE’S BACK…

Chris Jericho returns to the city that spawned him. No wonder I hate Winnipeg. Gotta say, I was kind of hoping he’d just go to WWE to finish out his career. And besides his awful new moustache, he’s got nothing to add besides “I’m back”. Still, it’s nice for AEW to get one back after a stream of guys going the other way. I bet he probably let Wheeler Yuta do the negotations with Nick Khan and they decided that Jericho was banned for life from the company as a result.

Meanwhile, Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley brawl amongst the beer kegs.

Contract Signing: So we try again with the MJF-Omega contract segment, and MJF immediately signs without even reading it, as does Kenny. Best kind of contract signing! With that done, Kenny cuts a promo on him, talking about how MJF was a theater kid who got hair plugs and nice shades and now he thinks he’s hot shit. But Kenny was two minutes away from death, with real problems, and the fans stood behind him because they wanted something better than Max. Max takes a shot at bagged Canadian milk (which is only in BC and parts of Ontario, by the way, not the prairies, where we drink milk from cartons like good people do) and an unneeded shot at Kota Ibushi and his beautiful beautiful face. Also he points out that Kenny is hanging on by a wing and a prayer and his diverticulitis is a time bomb that could blow up his intestines at any point. And then fans in Vancouver will be embarrassed and ashamed of their idol. To be fair, fans in Vancouver are used to shame and embarrassment this year given how the Canucks have played. But before Kenny can fight back and trigger physicality, Mike Bailey breaks it up, and he’s WEARING SHOES?!? What is this, April Fool’s Day? So Bailey challenges MJF to a match, TONIGHT IN THIS VERY RING, and Max accepts on behalf of AMERICA.

Ricochet & GOA v. Brody King, Kenny Omega & Jungle Jack Perry

The heels triple-team Kenny in the corner to start and beat him down, but Brody comes in and splats Ricochet with a senton for two after clearing GOA out of the ring. Perry hits the pile on the floor with a dive, and back in the ring we get a wacky triple suplex spot for the babyfaces. But Perry heads to the floor and Toa smashes him as we take a break. Back with Perry getting worked over in the heel corner. GOA with a double back suplex and Toa gets two off that. Jack fights back with a rebound lariat on Ricochet and makes the hot tag to Kenny, who hits You Can’t Escape on Kaun for two. He throws snapdragons on everyone, but can’t get Toa over, so Brody adds an assist. Brody with a cannonball on all three heels and that gets two on Kaun. Toa runs wild on the floor and knocks everyone over, and then Ric hits everyone with dives, leaving Kenny alone in the ring. Kaun with a brainbuster into a 450 from Ricochet that gets two. Perry breaks that up and dives onto the heels, but he gets caught, so Brody adds his own dive to smash everyone, and then Kenny follows with the Terminator Dive. Ric breaks that up, however, and dives onto Brody before popping right back up to the top, but he misses a 450 on Kenny. Kenny with a V-Trigger, but Ricochet reverses into a poison rana and everyone is dead. Toa and Brody smash through the timekeeper pod on the floor, leaving Ricochet and Kenny to continue their battle. Ricochet with Vertigo for two. But then he goes for the National belt and Perry yanks that away from him. Ric reverses a One Winged Angel into a rollup for two, but the V-Trigger and One Winged Angel finish him at 16:32. This was a WINNIPEG PARTY MATCH! ****

Meanwhile, Willow throws out an open challenge for the TBS title on the special Thursday Collision.

Meanwhile, Christian and Cope stop by for a word with Renee, armed with chairs on a hair trigger. So we take a break and return with them going into FTR’s dressing room, where RPG Vice are hanging out, and they take a beating on FTR’s behalf.

Pac v. Will Ospreay

Pac hits him with a brainbuster on the ramp, which would seem to be the end of the evening for Will, but he still stubbornly shakes off the trainers and starts the match. So Pac boots him in the face and chokes him on the ropes before dropping a knee for two. We take a break and return with Will hitting a forearm off the top rope and the flipping kick for two. Pac goes up Will cuts him off and then catches a moonsault attempt before turning it into a brainbuster of his own, and a flying splash gets two. They slug it out on the apron and Pac wins that battle and DDTs him to the floor for a double down out there. Back in, Pac immediately wraps him up in the Brutalizer, but Will makes the ropes and we take a second break. Back with Will making the comeback, but Pac hits him with a german suplex for two. Will with a powerbomb to block a rana, and he rolls into a Styles Clash for two off that. Pac with a rana for two and he follows with a lariat and tombstone to further mess up the neck, and Will is apparently dead. So Pac goes up for the Black Arrow, into the Brutalize, but Will finds another gear and powers out of it. So Pac takes him down again, and Will tries for the ropes, but Pac pulls him back, and then Will does a desperate reversal into a cradle and gets the pin at 16:38. A different type of Ospreay match this week but still GREAT, despite 6 minutes of commercials. ****. Afterwards, the Death Riders hit the ring and are about to Pillmanize his neck, but Mox stops and does a promo instead, granting him mercy for this time only. Excalibur stressed several times that the Dynasty match is for the Continental title, but the graphic for the match doesn’t say that and they’re usually pretty deliberately specific with that stuff. Also it wouldn’t make any sense for Ospreay to win the title from Moxley at this point so it’s better to leave it as a non-title match so Will can win and Mox can remain champion.

The Triangle of Terror v. Mina Shirakawa & The Brawling Birds

The Birds double-team Skye to start and Hayter boots her down for two. Mina gets a slingshot splash for two, with Skye awkwardly taking a bump for no reason to set it up. But then the heels take Mina to the floor and take over as we take a break. Back with them doing our second wacky triple suplex spot on the night for a triple down as the crowd is pretty dead for this. It’s been kind of a mess so far anyway. Theka and Mina collide for a double down, and the Birds double-team Julia until Thekla breaks it up. So they hit Thekla with the Hart Attack and then Hayter finishes Hart with the lariat at 9:18. This wasn’t great. **

Darby Allin joins us and accuses MJF of hiding behind the Don Callis Family, and then calls Max out for a conversation. But Don answers instead, announcing that if Darby can beat Andrade at Dynasty, MJF will grant him the next title shot. And the Family hits the ring for the beatdown, but Brody and Jack Perry quickly prevent them from doing anything.

AEW World title Eliminator: MJF v. Speedball Mike Bailey

We’ve got full Canada v. USA gear on display here as the theme isn’t subtle. Bailey throws kicks in the corner, but MJF rakes the eyes and beats him down before tossing him and running him into the stairs. Back in the ring, MJF with a chinlock, but Bailey makes a comeback until MJF cuts him off with a powerbomb for two. Bailey kicks him down and hits a standing shooting star for two. To the floor and Bailey hits him with a springboard moonsault. Back in, Bailey with a backslide and cradle for two. Sunset flip gets two. Powerslam gets two. Bailey bails to the apron and counters the heatseeker, but MJF powerbombs him for two. Back to the floor for Speedball and he escapes another heatseeker and then dives onto a charging MJF as we take a break. Back with Bailey missing a charge in the ring. He comes back with a dragon suplex and moonsault kneedrop for two. But then Max goes to the eyes again, and Bailey misses a kneedrop on the apron to set up MJF hitting a tombstone out there. Heatseeker finishes at 15:41. MJF gave Bailey a TON of offense, but Bailey had zero chance here. ***1/2

Hell of a show tonight outside of the messy women’s tag team match. Winnipeg was a hot crowd in a cold city and the build to Dynasty is strong so far.